I’m in love with this electric kettle serving set called Friend’s Coffee. The designer wanted to keep it simple and tame the design aesthetics of traditional hot drink sets. The result is a monolithic design; a kettle and 4 serving mugs all set on a large load tray. The tray can be unplugged at anytime to be properly served from. Beautiful design.

Yes you, the one who spills his tea and coffee coz you got butter fingers! I don’t mean to be rude, but let’s face some facts here; dripping a beverage while drinking your cuppa is so uncool. This why you need to add a dash of sophistication in your crockery. and see how deftly you can wipe away the drops of liquid without any fuss. Clumsy! A ceramic tea/coffee cup and saucer set that incorporates a dishcloth into the saucer design. Eccentric more than classic, what do you think?

A Picture Perfect photo of Barack Obama swimming with his daughter in Florida is not the answer to oil spills! It takes more than that to contain the damage and get the affected areas back to their feet. A moment of thought goes out to the Oil Fence here, which is made from recycled PET Plastic bottles, fitted with special rubber caps on both ends. The logic is to reuse the trashed bottles for a greater good like containing spills without adding burden to the environment. The color scheme of orange and yellow, sure makes it look bright and cheery against the black slick of oil!

So you’re sitting there, trying to think of ways to power cars, and you think “hmmm, I wonder if I could make a car that’s powered by air?” That’s silly! You think, gosh, it’d work if only there were a constant source of wind. Right? Well hold on there, maybe if you shore up your thinking a little bit, so to speak, and place this car in only one specific location: the line of land near the ocean, from whens the wind almost continuously blows. How about that?

You know the feeling. “Why can’t I just design around this? Does this object REALLY need this part to function?” That’s what designer Dallas Winspear asked of the common, everyday sink. “Does it need this ugly drainage hole?” he asked, and the answer was (and is!) no. No way! Design around it! Heck, design headfirst into it. This is “Lavinia”, a sink made of Corian or other high density polymer with a plugging mechanism recessed into the body of the sink, completely changing the dynamic of how the water exits.

For those who’ve been in a position to use crutches since they were a wee little person, a single size or even a traditional “adjustable size” crutch isn’t as awesome as it could be. Consider the following, if you will: “Lifelong Crutches” by Beomsik, Eunsil, Soonho, Bomi, and Bohyuk. These’ve thought of it all, including a circular bottom to due away with that pesky crutch-in-drainpipe situation, and buttons, switches, and slides that can adjust for any size and shape person.

CubeBrowser is a six-sided digital, display cube that connects to online databases like Flickr.com. You’re able to move through thousands of image-sets by turning and shaking the small cube in space. The pictures are grouped by tags. Horizontal turns change images, while vertical turns change to other tag sets. CubeBrowser unfolds an awe-inspiring trip through the hidden realms of online databases and provides a unique way of navigating by tag associations.

That jeans company you and I love the most, Wrangler, is about to do something rather unorthodox. They’re going to ask you to Stop Thinking. I don’t just mean turn into a goofball, no, rather let go of your mapped-out world and allow your mind and body to take part in a wild journey into the unknown. It’s a challenge. Four people from the public, in the UK specifically, are going to be asked to drop everything (except their passport) and rock with Wrangler into the outer limits.

I like looking at the Posh Lamp as a design exercise. What would normally be a run-of-the-mill portable light is elevated to something austere and “posh” just by framing it in chrome and steel. The lamp is composed of 20 LEDs with a 3-way switch. Couldn’t get any simpler than this. Reminds me of a trend I’ve seen lately; objects seemingly made anew by fortunate mash-ups. Look around your house. See anything that might have been two become one?

Upright & retract: the two new mantras for a dowdy marker pen; too amusing and cute! What we have here is the Upstanding Retractable Markers, a set of sketch markers that stay upright (think Weeble Wobbles) and have a retractable nib. This saves you the trouble of leaking nibs, but I seriously recommend a cap for keeping the color-stick dust-free and moist. Somehow the idea of pens lined upright on a desk makes me wonder, how many will become Humpty Dumpty and have a great fall!

Twisted Speakers, just like their name need to be actually twisted to be used. Born out of the frustration of the limited sound range from Isaac Teece’s laptop and MP3 player, this Bluetooth portable set support better sound quality and range. They charge via an induction charging station and twist to switch on and off, and to adjust the volume. You can scatter them about in a small area or get ‘top-up’ speakers (that sync to your other speakers) for spreading them around the house. What I really dig is their Bose-esque look with neater lines and finish.

The problem with writing Braille is that you need the proper equipments, namely a Braille Board and writer, which can get quite bulky to carry around. This means writing jiffy memos or taking short notes is not an easy task for the blind! The Braille Stapler looks at resolving the issue by providing a handy instrument that can be pocketed and used anywhere. This six-button device includes a space button and functions tab for controlling the size of the Braille. Moreover the design expedites the “writing process” that need not be written/read in reverse. More power of communication for the blind!

Let me tell you something. I’m at the age where I’m looking into saving space at the same time as I’m growing OUT of the life of a college student. You know what that means? It means I’m trying to collect items for my living space that will last, and not just be convenient for me (and my tiny, growing family) in the meantime. Thusly, I’m looking very intently at this project right here: the “Electrolux Invico.” It’s a concept by designer Njegos Lakic in which this device both has the ability to prepare a warm meal AND be put completely away, leaving that extra space when I need it.